1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel supply device for a vehicle, which uses an electric pump device, in particular, a structure of a terminal connection portion of a wiring for feeding power to a motor, in a fuel supply device for a two-wheel motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a fuel pump module obtained by integrating a fuel pump, a pressure controller, a strainer, and the like is widely used as a fuel supply device for vehicles such as two-wheel and four-wheel vehicles, in view of the reduction of the number of components, the improvement of efficiency of an assembly operation, and the like. In the fuel pump module, an electric pump device (hereinafter, referred to simply as an “electric pump” as needed) driven by an electric motor is used as the fuel pump. The fuel pump is unitized together with the motor for driving the fuel pump and the like to be provided in a fuel tank or in the vicinity thereof.
In the fuel supply device, the pump module is formed by fixing the electric pump, the strainer, a pressure regulator, and the like onto a disc-like member called a flange. The flange is mounted onto an opening of the fuel tank. As a result, the pump module, i.e., the fuel supply device is placed in the fuel tank. When the electric pump is driven, a fuel in the fuel tank is sucked into the fuel supply device through a filter. After being strained by the strainer and subjected to pressure control by the pressure controller or the like, the sucked fuel is supplied to a fuel supply system of an engine.
On the other hand, in the fuel supply device as described above, a wire harness for connecting power-feeding terminals provided to the flange and the pump module to each other is provided as feeder wirings for feeding electric power to the electric pump. The power-feeding terminals on the flange side are electrically connected to external supply terminals which are connected to a power supply such as an on-vehicle battery. Electric power used for driving is fed from the power-feeding terminals to the electric pump through the wire harness. Male terminals are provided inside the flange as the power-feeding terminals. The wire harness is connected to the male terminals so that female terminals provided to a fore-end of the wire harness are respectively fitted to the male terminals.
FIGS. 8 and 9 are explanatory views, each illustrating a structure of the power-feeding terminals provided on the flange side in the electric pump. As illustrated in FIG. 8, a flange 101 includes cylindrical terminal attachment portions 102 which are formed thereon. In a bottom portion of each of the terminal attachment portions 102, a male terminal 103 is accommodated, as illustrated in FIG. 9. The male terminals 103 are electrically insulated from each other by the cylindrical case-like terminal attachment portions 102. Female terminals 105 provided to a fore-end of a wire harness 104 are respectively connected to the male terminals 103. When the female terminals 105 are respectively inserted into the terminal attachment portion 102 to be fitted to the male terminals 103 provided in the bottom portions of the terminal attachment portions 102, the wire harness 104 is connected to a power supply.
A rubber grommet 106 is provided to each of the female terminals 105 on the wire harness 104 side. When each of the female terminals 105 is fitted to the corresponding male terminal 103 to be connected thereto, the rubber grommet 106 is inserted into the terminal attachment portion 102. The female terminal 105 is connected to the male terminal 103 present in the terminal attachment portion 102 while being retained by the rubber grommet 106. The terminal attachment portion 102 is sealed by the rubber grommet 106. A portion at which the male terminal 103 and the female terminal 105 are connected to each other is sealed by the rubber grommet 106 without being externally exposed. In a lower part of the flange 101, a coupler attachment portion 107 is provided. One end of each of the male terminals 103 is provided as a supply terminal 108 inside the coupler attachment portion 107. The supply terminals 108 are arranged in a row in the coupler attachment portion 107 so as to conform to the specifications of a coupler.
In the conventional fuel supply device as illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, however, intervals at which the supply terminals 108 are arranged are predetermined according to the specifications of the coupler. Therefore, if the male terminals 103 are arranged according to the intervals at which the supply terminals 108 are arranged, a space for locating the terminal attachment portions 102 therein becomes small because each of the intervals between the terminals of the coupler is small. As a result, all the cylindrical terminal attachment portions 102 cannot be located in the space. On the other hand, if each of the terminal attachment portions 102 is formed to have the cylindrical case-like shape to provide partitions for sealing between the male terminals 103 as illustrated in FIG. 8, the number of terminals which can be located in the terminal attachment portions 102 is limited. For example, even when a five-pin coupler is used, a space for only four terminals is ensured on the side of the terminal attachment portions 102. Thus, one of the terminals of the coupler cannot be used. Moreover, one end of a metal member used for each of the supply terminals 108 is arranged according to the specifications of the coupler. On the other hand, another end of the metal member is located as the male terminal 103 in each of the terminal attachment portions 102. Therefore, the metal member used for the terminal has a different shape for each of the terminals, and hence four metal terminal members are disadvantageously required for each device.
Further, in the case of the structure illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, a distance between the terminal attachment portions 102 is reduced in response to a requirement of the reduction of size of the device or the like. If the terminal attachment portions 102 are close to each other, it becomes difficult to insert the rubber grommet 106 into the corresponding terminal attachment portion 102. Therefore, it is difficult to connect the male terminal 103 and the female terminal 105 to each other. However, the space for locating the terminal attachment portions 102 is limited, and hence a large tapered portion cannot be formed over an opening portion of each of the terminal attachment portions 102. In view of such problems, measures to further facilitate an operation of inserting the grommet have been requested.